Nelson Peltz’s Trian Offers to Buy Wendy’s for $1.4 Billion
Burger chain’s shares are down roughly 70% over the past five years
- Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management is offering to buy fast-food chain Wendy’s for around $1.4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
- The group, which includes Flynn Group, BlueFive Capital and Sixth Street Partners, offered to pay $7.35 a share in cash to take Wendy’s private.
- Trian believes Wendy’s requires significant capital investments and a complex turnaround that would be easier to execute as a private company.
Nelson Peltz’s hedge fund Trian Fund Management is offering to buy fast-food chain Wendy’s WEN -0.81%decrease; down pointing triangle for around $1.4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trian, a longtime shareholder in Wendy’s, is leading a group that has offered to pay $7.35 a share in cash to take Wendy’s, the people said.
The restaurant operator Flynn Group and the investment firms BlueFive Capital and Sixth Street Partners are working with Trian. The group’s nonbinding bid is expected to be disclosed in a regulatory filing later Wednesday morning.
Wendy’s had a market value of roughly $1.2 billion as of Tuesday’s close. The bid represents a roughly 20% premium over the closing price.
The fast-food company’s stock is down roughly 70% over the past five years after operational missteps weighed on traffic and pressured earnings. The broader restaurant industry has also been under pressure more recently.
Trian thinks that Wendy’s is at “a critical juncture,” the people said. Trian believes the company requires significant capital investments and that the complex, multiyear turnaround it requires would be easier to execute as a private company, they said.
In May, Wendy’s said that its former chief operating officer Robert Wright would be returning to the company as chief executive after previously serving as CEO of sandwich chain Potbelly.
Since taking over, Wright has told franchisees and investors that the company shortchanged ingredient quality for cost savings, that service had become uneven and that Wendy’s depended too much on deals. The missteps also cost Wendy’s the No. 2 spot among big burger chains by U.S. sales, to Burger King.
Peltz has long been a major investor in the chain. His firm currently holds a roughly 16% stake, along with related parties, and continues to have a board presence.
Earlier this year, Peltz and others associated with his firm Trian Fund Management disclosed in a securities filing that they had spoken to potential investors about strategic options for Wendy’s, including potentially taking control of the company and taking it private. Trian said at the time that it had retained advisers to determine how to improve returns for Wendy’s investors.
Trian in 2022 pushed for strategic options at Wendy’s, including a potential sale. It backed off in 2023.
Earlier this year, Trian and venture-capital firm General Catalyst took the big asset manager Janus Henderson private.
Flynn is one of the largest restaurant operators globally and already one of the largest Wendy’s franchisees in the U.S., with over 300 Wendy’s locations around the world, according to its website.